The present invention generally relates to wireless speech or other remote communication in a clinical environment. In particular, the present invention relates to use of wireless voice or other remote technology to improve clinical workflow.
A clinical or healthcare environment is a crowded, demanding environment that would benefit from organization and improved ease of use of imaging systems, data storage systems, and other equipment used in the healthcare environment. A healthcare environment, such as a hospital or clinic, encompasses a large array of professionals, patients, and equipment. Personnel in a healthcare facility must manage a plurality of patients, systems, and tasks to provide quality service to patients. Healthcare personnel may encounter many difficulties or obstacles in their workflow.
In a healthcare or clinical environment, such as a hospital, a large number of employees and patients may result in confusion or delay when trying to reach other medical personnel for examination, treatment, consultation, or referral, for example. A delay in contacting other medical personnel may result in further injury or death to a patient. Additionally, a variety of distraction in a clinical environment may frequently interrupt medical personnel or interfere with their job performance. Furthermore, workspaces, such as a radiology workspace, may become cluttered with a variety of monitors, data input devices, data storage devices, and communication device, for example. Cluttered workspaces may result in efficient workflow and service to clients, which may impact a patient's health and safety or result in liability for a healthcare facility.
Data entry and access is also complicated in a typical healthcare facility. Speech transcription or dictation is typically accomplished by typing on a keyboard, dialing a transcription service, using a microphone, using a Dictaphone, or using digital speech recognition software at a personal computer. Such dictation methods involve a healthcare practitioner sitting in front of a computer or using a telephone, which may be impractical during operational situations. Similarly, for access to electronic mail or voice messages, a practitioner must typically use a computer or telephone in the facility. Access outside of the facility or away from a computer or telephone is limited.
Thus, management of multiple and disparate devices, positioned within an already crowded environment, that are used to perform daily tasks is difficult for medical or healthcare personnel. Additionally, a lack of interoperability between the devices increases delay and inconvenience associated with the use of multiple devices in a healthcare workflow. The use of multiple devices may also involve managing multiple logons within the same environment. A system and method for improving ease of use and interoperability between multiple devices in a healthcare environment would be highly desirable.
In a healthcare environment involving extensive interaction with a plurality of devices, such as keyboards, computer mousing devices, imaging probes, and surgical equipment, repetitive motion disorders often occur. A system and method that eliminates some of the repetitive motion in order to minimize repetitive motion injuries would be highly desirable.
Additionally, in a healthcare workflow, healthcare providers often consult or otherwise interact with each other. Such interaction typically involves paging or telephoning another practitioner. Thus, interaction between healthcare practitioners may be time- and energy-consuming Therefore, there is a need for a system and method to simplify and improve communication and interaction between healthcare practitioners.
Healthcare environments, such as hospitals or clinics, include clinical information systems, such as hospital information systems (HIS) and radiology information systems (RIS), and storage systems, such as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). Information stored may include patient medical histories, imaging data, test results, diagnosis information, management information, and/or scheduling information, for example. The information may be centrally stored or divided at a plurality of locations. Healthcare practitioners may desire to access patient information or other information at various points in a healthcare workflow. For example, during surgery, medical personnel may access patient information, such as images of a patient's anatomy, that are stored in a medical information system. Alternatively, medical personnel may enter new information, such as history, diagnostic, or treatment information, into a medical information system during an ongoing medical procedure.
In current information systems, such as PACS, information is entered or retrieved using a local computer terminal with a keyboard and/or mouse. During a medical procedure or at other times in a medical workflow, physical use of a keyboard, mouse or similar device may be impractical (e.g., in a different room) and/or unsanitary (i.e., a violation of the integrity of an individual's sterile field). Re-sterilizing after using a local computer terminal is often impractical for medical personnel in an operating room, for example, and may discourage medical personnel from accessing medical information systems. Thus, a system and method providing access to a medical information system without physical contact would be highly desirable to improve workflow and maintain a sterile field.
Imaging systems are complicated to configure and to operate. Often, healthcare personnel may be trying to obtain an image of a patient, reference or update patient records or diagnosis, and ordering additional tests or consultation. Thus, there is a need for a system and method that facilitate operation and interoperability of an imaging system and related devices by an operator.
In many situations, an operator of an imaging system may experience difficulty when scanning a patient or other object using an imaging system console. For example, using an imaging system, such as an ultrasound imaging system, for upper and lower extremity exams, compression exams, carotid exams, neo-natal head exams, and portable exams may be difficult with a typical system control console. An operator may not be able to physically reach both the console and a location to be scanned. Additionally, an operator may not be able to adjust a patient being scanned and operate the system at the console simultaneously. An operator may be unable to reach a telephone or a computer terminal to access information or order tests or consultation. Providing an additional operator or assistant to assist with examination may increase cost of the examination and may produce errors or unusable data due to miscommunication between the operator and the assistant. Thus, a method and system that facilitates operation of an imaging system and related services by an individual operator would be highly desirable.
Additionally, use of portable devices in a clinical environment is currently limited. Display quality on current portable devices is poor and insufficient for detailed medical viewing. For example, medical images displayed on portable devices may at best be used for illustration purposes, but the display quality is not adequate for diagnostic purposes. For images such as radiography images (e.g., computed radiography (CR), digital radiography (DR), and/or digitized film), for example, a diagnostic quality (e.g., high resolution and high dynamic range) display would be highly desirable.
Existing solutions involve plugging in a personal digital assistant (PDA) to a monitor and accessing data via an internet or intranet. In such a case, the PDA must store the images. However, PDAs have limited memory for large CR/DR full-resolution files. Additionally, images must be pre-loaded. A user is not able to dynamically pull up or query cases for review. Users are typically limited to a small set of images used for teaching purposes. Therefore, an improved system and method for displaying diagnostic quality images while bypassing PDA storage restrictions would be highly desirable.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method to improve clinical workflow using wireless communication or other remote technology.